The Night Of The Howling Owl
by Theresa471
Summary: Artemus Gordon is sent on a mission alone to bring back a traitor involved with stealing a journal involving with slave trading and several Union soldiers.
1. Chapter 1

_The Night Of The Howling Owl_

Artemus Gordon having been ordered to Washington, D.C to speak with President Grant and the secretary of state Justin Moore for a special courier mission.

When the dispatch had arrived for Gordon, his partner Jim West was wondering why only him and not him to go on the mission.

Artemus keeping reading it a few times, when he finally decided to answer his partner.

"Jesus Artemus, haven't you heard a word, I was trying to tell the past few minutes?" He asked with an annoyed expression.

"I still don't understand this Jim, I am to travel to New Hampshire to the governor's mansion Anthony Scarpella to bring him back, having to be a very powerful renegade military officer, the dispatch tells me, he has valuable information in regard to slave trading within the state." He sighs with resignation.

"And your going alone on this mission?" He asked deadpanned.

"I have no choice Jim, the president and Secretary is insisting this time around, and besides you will have plenty to do with the rest of the smaller cases, and besides, Wimona won't have to worry about you, this time around." He replied with a wry grin.

"To each it's own, good luck any way Artie." While walking over to shake his hand and taking him into a bear hug.

/

Union Camp

Corporal Donald Edison was waiting on word from his posse, to find out just where did Anthony Scarpella had gone to be placed into protected custody.

Edison and several of his men have been involved with the slave trading the past few years. It was a healthy profit for them all, until recently, when Scarpella had found out about the slave trading , through one of the slaves having been taken into custody by the U.S. government.

When the President of the United States Jackson and other high officials received this information, they need to do something about it, before the total situation gets out of hand.

Anthony Scarpella has been running for days, until he check in with the proper authorities, and warn them about the slave going on in the state. He had told them about having to found a journal from a Corporal Donald Edison, for which he written about all of the actual transactions between the vendor and himself.

Scarpella having turn himself in to the authorities, he had insisted only man, he had heard about within the Secret Service to take him to see the president and head of state, along with the journal, and that is Artemus Gordon.

Here he sits in protect custody in the town of Centerville jail, he now waits to see how long it's going to be, when the secret service agent Gordon shows up.

Since he was able to see outside his jail cell window, it was now dark, with the moon starting to come out from behind the clouds. He can hear a owl hooting in the short distance of his cell, otherwise very little traffic was going on with the streets or sidewalks having to close to ten o' clock at night.

Someone had come into the office of the jail, it was one of two Marshall's working tonight, and it was his job to bring food into the cell to feed Scarpella even if it was late right now.

Scarpella asked what was going on right now, he had his food was brought it, along with his drinks and desert. Their was plenty of room to move around the cell, along with his blankets, pillows to make him comfortable until, it's time to leave.


	2. Chapter 2

_The Night of The Howling Owl_

 _Chapter Two_

Gordon with his carriage and his two horses, he only had another three hours to go, before he reached the town of Centerville. He needed to rest his horses, while they were on the main road. He had the lanterns going to see where he was going. Their was a nip in the air for being late at night.

He was very lucky to find a watering hole across the ways, for the horses, for himself, he had supplies on hand to keep him going for awhile.

He was able to rest a little inside the carriage, knowing full well, he needed to move on. An hour later after waking, he was ready to go to finally arrive at the outskirts of the town, it was after one a.m. in the morning, when he had stopped the carriage and the horses.

When he had gotten down from the carriage, the first thing he heard having to be deadly silent inside the town, was a "howling owl" to really scare the devil out of him.

Gordon started to talk to himself after that little scare. "Artie, you need to calm down your nerves." He says while looking up into the sky with the moon still behind the clouds.

He goes to walk inside the Centerville jail cell to meet Marshall Jack Wilson, a man in his fifties, with shades of grey with his hair.

"Marshall, I am service service agent Artemus Gordon, I have my I.D., I am here with permission from the United States Government to bring in officer Anthony Scarpella." He hands him the direct orders from the President of The United States.

"Everything seems to be in order, please come with me, I will have your prisoner ready for transportation, unless you need to stay here, until morning to rest, I will be here all night, so you can sleep in the back without having to be bother."

"Thanks, I think, I will do that, but first I need to talk with Anthony Scarpella." Artie replies with a yawn. He was tired, and really didn't want to admit it.

When he went inside to speak with Scarpella, he was asleep in his bunk, when the Marshall had told him to wake up, his protection has arrived with an altitude.

Once the Marshall opened the cell, he let Gordon go inside to talk with him about the slave trading operation.

Gordon asked the Marshall, he will called him, when he was done talking with Scarpella.

And the first thing out of his mouth from Scarpella. "Look Mr. Gordon, I need to be sure, I will be properly protected by those men, that are looking for me right now." He responded while pointing his hand at Gordon.

"You will be Anthony, I need to be sure, you will keep in line with me traveling back to Washington, D.C. and the information your going to turn in." While rubbing the back of his neck from the lack of sleep and food.

"I said, I will Mr. Gordon, here is the journal I have found at the camp by Edison, every transaction that was made is recorded inside the journal." He hands him the journal to look it. It was a few minutes later, when he started to whistle at the amounts of money that was written.

"Wow!, we need to get back quick to the proper authorities, we will be leaving early in the morning, I suggest you try to sleep, while I am in the back room doing the same.

/

It was seven o' clock in the morning, when Artemus Gordon and Anthony Scarpella were finally on their way. He would keep Scarpella in the back of the carriage in case of being stopped.

It was at this point Edison had sent his men to start looking for Scarpella, when he and the others were given the information, for where he might be in the first place.

When Edison, himself, had shown up with his men from the Union camp, had asked the Marshall for the information, before shooting him straight out. At first he had refused, but when he was being threatened with several rifles being pointed at him, he told them, the secret service agent left a hour ago heading for Washington, D.C. with Scarpella and his journal.

"Thanks!" Before shooting him into his chest a few times . The sheriff fell back into his chair. And it's where he stayed, until the other Marshall comes in to take over. "Lets move, we have a great deal of ground to make up." He orders his men to leave.

/

Artemus Gordon was having a hard time with the carriage, the road was just too bumpy for his taste, he had called Scarpella to come up front, while hollering at him to hurry before the wagon breaks down.

And then all of a sudden the wagon wheel in the front breaks away from the boulders having to be in the way, broke loose to throw the two onto the ground. Artie was able to catch his breath, even though a few bruises to his body, it was the same for Scarpella suffering the same fate, they were very lucky this time around.

Otherwise the damage was done to the carriage, along with the horses.

"We need to move on foot, along with what ever supplies we can gathered up from the carriage, lets get moving, I just don't like the feel of this." Artie replied looking around the surroundings.

"Are you sure about this Mr. Gordon?" Taking out the last of the supplies to be some of the water and food items to Gordon before heading on out on foot.


	3. Chapter 3

_The Night of the Howling Owl_

 _Chapter Three_

"Jim this is really crazy of you to go after a grown man, when in fact Artemus is on assignment for the President." Wimona says to her husband leaving the train to get onto his horse.

"I need to do this Wimona, it just doesn't seem right, Artie could be walking into a set up, and he needs his partner to back him up, please go back inside the train, it's starting to get cold, and I don't need to have you get sick with being pregnant.

"All right, but I don't like it Jim, your just being stubborn."

"Yes I am, for when it comes to Artemus Gordon, now get inside, please." Saying it with a smile at least. She storms back into the train and sitting down on the chair.

She was thinking to herself, she needs to find out more about this Anthony Scarpella, and with ther connections inside the Secret Service, she was able to use the telegraph to send a private message to one of her friends, and telling her source to get back to her quickly if possible.

/

Gordon and Scarpella were getting tired, traveling through the forest to stay away from the main road of other travelers, including Edison and his men from the camp, and it was starting to get dark.

Gordon needed to look for shelter, even a cave would be good right now for him. At this point there was nothing around. They would have to settle with making a small camp fire. They had supplies to eat and drink, along with two blankets. Along with the noises of the forest to really get on his nerves.

"All right Scarpella, get yourself settled, we will be staying here for the night."

"Sure!, he looks on at Gordon seeming to be upset at the moment, but didn't bother to pursue the issue.

Several times during the night, Gordon was being woken up by the noises of the forest, it had never let it bother him before, during all of the years, he's been a secret service agent.

Every time he woke, he would hear the howling of the owls to be quite strange to him to be thinking things like that in the first place. Otherwise he looked over every once in a while at Scarpella having to be sleeping soundly.

He still doesn't understand why he chosen for this mission in the first place, no matter what the President had told him about the details.

/

Jim West was making his way into the town of Centerville to speak with the Marshall. When he walked in, Marshall Thompsom with his name badge was talking to a bunch of men in front of him, talking about setting up a posse.

When West heard the word posse, he asked why? This is when Marshall Thompsom explain the entire situation to him, along with the fact, his partner Gordon and this Scarpella were in great danger.

West told the Marshall, he would need his men's help to look for Gordon and the other man, before Edison and who ever else is with him at this moment.

"All right, gathered up everyone James, and have everyone ready outside this office in ten minutes, Mr. West, I am going along with you to look for them, we will be sure to enough fire power between all of us to stop an army.

"Were going to be needing it Marshall." Everyone moved out of the office, to get back onto their horses, along with their rifles to head out into the darkness with the lanterns to at lease see their way around for the evening.

Plus the fact a storm was starting to brew in the northwest, hopefully with West was thinking that maybe his partner would be under covered by now.

Lightening and thunder was starting to rumble, it was starting to look bad to everyone, having to stop to huddle together under a bunch of trees, even though all of the horses have been already been spook.

"The storm is getting bad Marshall." West replied trying to stay closed to the trees and the men. When another lightening bolt hit near by, along with hearing the crackle of the bolt hitting something.


	4. Chapter 4

_The Night Of The Howling Owl_

 _Chapter Four_

Edison and his men were having a hard time with the storm, trying to protect themselves from the elements.

Two of his men wanted to head back home, Edison wanted no part of it, at this point. Pointing his rifle at the two men before firing at the both to kill him and injuring the other in his shoulder.

The rest of his men, went back to stayed covered under the trees until the storm started to subsided.

Edison wasn't in any mood to be playing around with anyone at this time of the night, let alone the thunder storm.

It was some time later when the rain and the lightening finally ended having left everyone soaked to the bones, but everyone had a job to be done.

West and the posse were able to gather up the horses without losing a one having to been in the area, along with grazing. Once everyone were ready and settled in, they started to look for Gordon and Scarpella.

It was the same for Edison and his men.

/

Wimona was receiving a telegraph message from her source in Washington, D.C., she was not happy with the news at all, having to find out Anthony Scarpella having to be a traitor to the United States government.

She had received a report stating Scarpella once serving in the secret secret years ago during a mission involving _Artemus Gordon._

But back then, he went under the name Gordon Thompson, along with having been shot by Gordon to have his faced damaged, until he was able to have plastic surgery done, he had made a statement to the authorities, he wanted to get his revenge against Gordon.

And why he now had requested Artemus Gordon to get back at him for what he had done to him years ago.

She had to do something. She asked the engineer of the train to head for the town of Centerville of possible, she had to explain all of the details to him to understand as to why.

He understood, since it involved Artemus Gordon and Jim West.

Everyone was ordered back onto the train to be heading for the town of Centerville. Since she wasn't able to leave in her condition, she has asked several of the workers on the train to look for Gordon and West, and give them the desperate message about the traitor.

Once arriving sometime later. Both men having to be a butler and number two conductor, were to head out on two of the horses that were in the main cargo hold, were taken out to be used for the travel.

/

Edison and his men were getting closer to Gordon and Scarpella. They had sent a scout up ahead. Gordon and Scarpella were now resting once again with one of the lanterns, since the ground was still soaked from the rain earlier.

"How far away are they Johan?" Edison asked his scout he sent to check up on them.

"Two hundred yards from here sir."

"Lets go everyone, check your rifles for your ammo." He checked his own rifle to check the barrel of his weapon.

They start to move, when they see both Artemus Gordon and Anthony sitting.

When Gordon got up from the log he was sitting on. "Hold it right there Gordon, and don't move, you to Scarpella, finally!, it's been a long few days trying to catch up with everyone." He tells the both men looking on.

"Edison, you know, I had a job that needed to be with me getting my revenge against Artemus Gordon, just taking your journal, only made it more interesting into."

Gordon speaks up. "I don't understand what is going on Scarpella, "Revenge" against me for what?"

"Oh!, like you don't know Gordon, my real name is Gordon Thompson, and no I didn't die on your account, inside I was scared for the rest of my life." Taking the fake skin on the right side of his face, to have everyone cringe at the sight of his skin being marred.

"Why now Gordon after all this time?" He asked while several rifles were on him and Scarpella.

"It took me all this time for me to finally catch up to you, otherwise I will have my revenge never the less, Edison, I suggest you kill me after your done with Gordon."

"But before I kill the both of you, I want that journal back, you took from my tent inside the camp."

/

On the outskirts...

Jim West and the posse from Centerville arrived at the area.

The Marshall had sent a scout up ahead to check it out. He was just now coming back.

"What's going on Johan?" The Marshall asked his deputy trying to catch his breath from the sprint.

"Gordon and Scarpella are two hundred tears away, along with Edison and five of his men having rifles on the two, I heard Scarpella say something about having revenge that Artemus Gordon, for something that had happened many years ago."

"West, do you happened to know what he's talking about in the first place?" He asked with a serious tone.

"I have no idea what he's talking about, and besides Artie and have not been together on a great many missions during the past 15 years as agents."

"We need to get closer and see what we can do with cutting down the numbers, West, how good of a shot are you?"

"The best going, I was number two out of 100 of the agents involved on the shooting range."

"Who is number one?" He queries tersely. "We need to cut down those men, before we can even attempt to get to Gordon and the other man, West, you will take out Edison, while myself and the other man will take the rest out on my order, understand everyone?"

"Yes sir." In unison everyone agreed, along with Johan. While everyone were ready walking very quietly through the trees. It was at this moment, when a Owl started to howl through the trees, they were able to see it perched on one of the branches.

When they made it. Edison and his men were hollering at each other for some odd reason. Saying something not finding the journal on Scarpella or even Artemus Gordon.

When the Marshall gave the order, he raised his arm to alert them. "FIRE"...

Edison and all five of his men were hit in various areas of their bodies. Edison was hit in the head by James West to kill him outright, while the rest of his men, who were left alive gave up themselves to the marshall and the secret service agent West.

While Artemus Gordon was grateful for the rescue by his long time partner/friend. As for Scarpella, he gave himself up as well with saying the journal was left at Centerville, inside the Marshall's office with all of those books he has collecting dust in his office.

"It will be their gentlemen, I have nothing more to say on the subject or anything else for that matter, my life is over with."

/

The next day after traveling to get back to town. The authorities were informed of the total situation with the journal, proving about the transactions for the slave trading by telegraph messaging.

President Grant and the Secretary of State was most pleased with the total outcome of the mission, even though Corporal Donald Edison was killed, along with three of his men, while two others were recovering from gun shot wounds to the right leg and shoulder.

They had found the journal, where it was supposed to be for where Scarpella reported.

It was up to James West and Artemus Gordon to bring the journal to the president of the United States. But this time on the train instead of traveling by horse back.

When Wimona had heard what had happened, she was glad everything had worked out for the best. At least this time Jim and Artie were not hurt in the process, even though it had come close to that point.

/

"Jim darling, I must tell you, your friend Artemus was a lucky man once again to survive this mission, it's just too bad we had found out about Scarpella's real name, until after I had received that dispatch from my source in Washington, D.C.." She says while placing a gentle caress onto his forehead and chest.

"Before I forget, Gordon Thompson was found hanged in his jail cell in Centerville a few days later, he uses one of the white sheets of his bed to kill himself the cowardly way out."

"It's too bad, by the way when do we arrive in Washington, D.C. to turn in the journal?"

"Two days, it will give Artermus to rest for the next two days after all that had happened the past four days, along with catching a slight cold from the storm." They chuckled before getting under the blankets.


End file.
